The iPlayer service has previously been used to screen programmes which have already been broadcast on televisionorradio, allowing licence fee payers to catch up on shows they have missed.

But the move towards broadband television has led to fears that viewers who pay the licence fee but do not have access to the internet, including the elderly or those who live in remote areas, may end up subsidising people watching online without being able to see it themselves.

“The BBC will premiere a small amount of content on BBC iPlayer before it is broadcast, and make some programming exclusively available to audiences via iPlayer,” said a spokesman. “This enables the BBC to continue to experiment with online TV and new ways to offer audiences more choice and control over how they enjoy BBC programmes.

“BBC iPlayer currently makes up around two per cent of overall BBC TV viewing in the UK, which even though significant, is small compared with broadcast TV.” The new Peter Kay show, entitled Car Share, will be the first BBC series to be shown in its entirety on the catch-up service before hitting television screens.

It will feature the Bolton-born comic as a supermarket worker named John, who is thrown together with a female colleague in a company car share scheme.

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The six-episode series, the first Kay sitcom for BBC One, is set in the north-west of England, where it will be filmed. Kay, 39, said: “To be finally working with the BBC on a new comedy is a great opportunity. And the idea of two people car sharing to work each day really appealed to me, as it highlights the comedy in the minutiae of the daily trek.”

The BBC last week announced that it had commissioned its first original dramas specifically for iPlayer, with six short films made for the service to be screened over the next two years by “up and coming talent” as a BBC3 strand.

Although the BBC has screened some comedy pilots and spin-offs from other shows, including a Doctor Who mini-series Pond Life, it has not previously created fresh dramas for the iPlayer. To watch BBC programmes on television or live on iPlayer, viewers must buy a television licence, which costs £145.50 a year.

Robert Oxley, campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, warned against a future in which those who did not have access to the internet subsidised programmes for the rest of the country.

“The BBC needs to think carefully about how they spend the licence fee,” he said. “If more and more content goes online, then questions must be asked about whether the fee should be reduced. We cannot have a situation where viewers who do not have access to content online are subsidising programmes watched by people who do not pay in the first place.”

The BBC refused to disclose how much the show would cost to commission, saying only that it would be a “normal” amount for a new series. However, it is likely to cost up to £1.5million, according to tariffs listed on the corporation’s website. Peter Kay is reported to be worth around £20million.